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Facts of the Week April 24 to 30, 2015

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The Weekly Update consisting of Important News, Events, Facts and Achievements. Browse Regularly for Strengthening your General Knowledge, and staying abreast with what is happening around you. 

 

National Political News:

1. The much awaited GST bill has been introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Finance Minister. It seeks to amend the Constitution of India for implementation of the Goods & Service tax amendment. It is a win-win measure for the country as per government spokesman. GDP growth is slated to go up by 2% after the implementation of GST in the country. GST shall replace a plethora of taxes and shall subsume CST, VAT, Octroi, Service Tax, Central & State Excise duties etc. It is claimed that there shall be greater efficiency in tax administration and the entire country will become one single market with uniform rates of taxation.

2. The suicide by a Rajasthan farmer Gajendra Singh belonging to a village near Jaipur in protest against the mishandling of the agrarian crisis during the course of AAP rally at Jantar-Mantar, New Delhi has evoked nationwide anger at the insensitivity of the AAP leaders in continuing with the rally inspite of the incident taking place in their presence. AAP’s Kejriwal and Ashutosh have apologized and have sought to limit the damage by announcing a cheque of Rs.10 lakh to be given to the family of the bereaved farmer. An FIR against the incident has been filed by the Delhi Police accusing the AAP leaders of instigating suicide.

3. Rahul Gandhi fresh from his sabbatical, has in Parliament attacked the Govt. as “Suit Boot Ki Sarkar” while raising the issue of agrarian distress.

Rahul Gandhi trekked an arduous pilgrim’s route to become the first high profile person to enter the Kedarnath Temple, regarded as the holiest of the Hindu shrines, after the temple portals opened for the first time this season. Soft Hindutva is back in currency in Congress paradigm.

4. RBI lays down new norms for advances to the Farm & MSME sectors. Governor Rajan in his address at CRRID dwelled on the issue of farmer suicides, a complex problem attributed to crop failure because of lack of rains or unseasonal rains and destruction of harvest etc. on account of that.

International Political News:

1. Over 250 Jihadists of extremist ISIS have reportedly been killed in Anbar province of Iraq in a counter offensive launched by Iraqi military. The Iraqi military has liberated the town of Ramadi from the ISIS hold.

2. China and Pakistan have inked a pact on creation of an economic corridor through Pakistan occupied Kashmir – POK. The Karakoram highway built in 1979 reduces the distance of Chinese imports by 12000 kms from the Middle East instead of the sea route through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

3. In the ongoing Yemen conflict, Pakistan Govt. has vowed to defend Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity. On the other hand, Pakistan’s Parliament has refused to send troops to help a Saudi Lead armed forces coalition in Yemen.

4. Egypt’s ousted President Mohd. Morsi has been jailed for 20 years on charges of violence, kidnapping and torture of adversaries. He had lead a Muslim Brotherhood Govt. in Egypt which was claimed to be freely elected.

5. European Union Leaders (E.U) have pledged support to rescue efforts to save a record number of people drowning in the Mediterranean sea while they try to flee from poverty in the Middle East and Africa. 900 went down on a single boat tragedy which capsized between Libya and Italy last Sunday. Smugglers are running a human trafficking racket from African countries of Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia and Kenya.

6. Controversy has arisen over funding to Clinton foundation of $ 31.3 million in 2006 by Uranium One founder, Canadian citizen Frank Giustrs. Incidentally Uranium One has now become a Russian Govt. company through a series of take overs and is now known as Rosatom with major stakes in the Uranium belt of Utah State in USA.

7. A powerful earth quake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale causes massive devastation in Nepal. Epicentred near Kathmandu at Lamjung and at a depth 2 kms , its tremors have been felt from Pakistan Panjab in the west to Myanmar in the East. Initial reports suggest to over 1500 dead in Nepal. Regions of UP, Bihar and West Bengal adjacent to the Nepalese border have also suffered huge losses and 52 people have reportedly been killed in these areas in India.

Business News:

1. The Indian Stock Markets are below their highs by about 9%. More than half of the NSE 500 stocks have slipped below their 200 day moving average (DMA). There is a sign of nervousness in the markets because of a below par monsoon forecast, weak corporate earnings, MAT issues, FII withdrawal and rising crude prices.

2. India’s Forex reserves (Foreign exchange) have reason to an all-time high of $343 billion. Moody’s have revised India’s rating outlook ‘Baa3’ to positive from stable. Indian companies are thus placed in a better position to raise resources overseas.

3. Leading Indian tech company Infosys has failed to meet its guidance figure for sales/profits for 4th quarter of 2015. Other tech companies, TCS and HCL have also given muted results. Private sectors Banks HDFC, Yes Bank and Indus Ind Bank have given good 4th quarter results and their shares carry a buy rating by most brokers and analysts.

4. House of Thapars scion Gautam Thapar disposes of his entire 34.37% stake in consumer business of Crompton Greaves, a renowned brand name in top quality electrical goods in India.

Science and Technology:

The current spyware devices using latest advents in technology:

Hid controller – is like a hacker sitting at your desk. It is a device which is less than an inch in size and can be disguised as a flash drive to be plugged to a USB port.

GSM bug – is like an ordinary adapter (2 pin plug), a sim card is inserted in it and can be plugged in to a power/5 amp. wall socket in a board meeting – your rival from a distant location can dial a particular number to activate the sim and overhear the entire conversation.

Audio bug – An inch long, can be installed in any crevice of a room, has 600 hour recording time and encrypts the data. It is used only by professionals and govt. agencies.

Key logger – Plugged to the back of any computer and has Wi-Fi connectivity.

Spy glasses – High definition HD cameras with built in storage can record audio and video for 2 hours.

PWN plug – Fixed on a wall, it look like an air freshener. It has complete remote access thru 3G.

Sports: 

1. Indian challenge ends at Asia badminton championship in Wuhan, China. Saina Nehwal loses to Tzu Ying Tai and PV Sandhu to Li Xuerui of China in Quarter finals.

2. In the Champion league soccer matches played in Europe, the clubs Barcelona, Bayern, Juventus and Real Madrid have reached the semis.

Indian Premier League Matches:

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